New Study Finds Pesticide Poisoning at Nation’s
Schools
Group Calls for National Legislation to Protect Children

Beyond Pesticides calls on Congress to pass the School Environment
Protection Act (SEPA) to protect children in the face of a new study published
today in the Journal of the American Medical Association that finds students
and school employees are being poisoned by pesticide use at schools and
from drift off of neighboring farmlands.

Washington, DC, July 27, 2005 –A new study published in the Journal
of the American Medical Association today finds that students and school
employees are being poisoned by pesticide use at schools and from drift
off of neighboring farmlands. The public health advocacy organization
Beyond Pesticides today called on Congress to respond by passing the School
Environment Protection Act (SEPA).

The study, “Acute Illnesses Associated With Pesticide Exposure
at Schools,” which analyzes 2593 poisonings from 1998 to 2002, finds
incident rates overall of 7.4 cases per million children and 27.3 cases
per million employees, while the authors conclude, “[T]hese results
should be considered low estimates of the magnitude of the problem because
many cases of pesticide poisoning are likely not reported to surveillance
systems or poisoning control centers.” The authors recommend that
strategies be adopted to reduce the use of pesticides at school and reduce
drift.

The study authors note the lack of protection for school children and
employees under federal law, pointing out that state laws provide some
protection but are varied, leaving large gaps. Thirty-three states have
taken some level of action to step in and provide protective action to
address pesticide use in, around, or near their schools, according to
a Beyond Pesticides report, The Schooling of State Pesticide Laws. Seventeen
states have required or recommended pesticide use restrictions. However,
these laws represent a patchwork of laws that are uneven and inadequate
across the country, according to Beyond Pesticides.. SEPA has passed the
U.S. Senate twice in the last four years and has been reintroduced in
the U.S. House of Representatives this year, H.R. 110 (Rush Holt, D-NJ).

The study finds that the incidence rates among children increased significantly
from 1998 to 2002. While the study looks at acute, or short-term, effects,
the study authors note that, “Repeated pesticide applications on
school grounds raise concerns about persistent low level exposures to
pesticides at schools.” Continuing, the authors state, “The
chronic long-term impacts of pesticide exposures have not been comprehensively
evaluated; therefore, the potential for chronic health effects from pesticide
exposures at schools should not be dismissed. Unfortunately, the surveillance
methods used in our report are inadequate for assessing chronic effects.”
In addition, the authors note that pesticides on school grounds can be
tracked inside school buildings.

“The study results represent the tip of the pesticide poisoning
iceberg and provide yet more evidence that there is an urgent need for
Congress to pass the School Environment Protection Act to protect children,”
said Jay Feldman, executive director of Beyond Pesticides.